Unconditionally
by MadGirl-SpaceGirl-StarGirl
Summary: Credence Barebone feels utterly alone. No family, no true name, no history. Alone. Until his journey in Paris reunites him with a face he hasn't seen for 9 years. A face he used to protect and who used to protect him. This is the story of the Barebone child nobody knew. And the little girl Credence knew is not so little anymore. (Sorry for crap summary, I hate writing them)
1. Just a toy

**New York - Church of the Second Salemers - 1918**

"7, 8, 9, 10! Okay I'm gonna find you!" Credence said, letting a rare small smile flicker on his face as he heard his little sister Solara, giggling from upstairs. Of course he knew she wasn't really his sister, he had been there when Mary Lou adopted her into their patchwork…family.

He walked up the stairs and into the area that contained his bed and Solara's little bed on the opposite wall. By the muffled sound of giggles it seemed that Solara had her hand over her mouth to try and stifle the sound of her laughter.

"I wonder where Lara could be… found you!" he said as he crouched down and pulled the little girl out from under her bed, still giggling.

"You always find me!" the ten year old said and another fleeting smile passed over Credence's face.

"Because you always hide in the same place" he said, and then frowned slightly as something caught his eye. It must have rolled out when he pulled Solara out from under the bed. He crouched down and picked up the small wooden object.

The small wooden wand.

He looked from the wand to Solara who had stopped giggling and was now looking up at him anxiously with her sea green eyes.

"I-it's just a toy Creed! Really, just-just a toy I promise!"

"It's okay Lara. We-we just need to get rid of it before Ma-"

"Credence? What are you doing?"

Both Barebone kids jumped at the sound of their adopted mother's voice and span around to face her.

"N-nothing Ma" all the carefree happiness had dropped like a stone out of Credence's voice as he stared at the floor, holding his hands behind his back in an attempt to subtly hide the toy wand.

Mary Lou stood looking severely at the teenager and child in front of her.

"Credence" she said in a carefully measured tone "What is in your hands? Show it to me. _Now_."

His shoulder sagging in defeat Credence revealed the wand to his mother. Mary Lou's eyes narrowed and her nostrils flared before she slapped the wand, violently out of his hands, making him wince.

The wand rolled along the floor and disappeared through a crack in a loose floorboard.

"How. _Dare_. You. Bring something so blasphemous into the church, against _everything_ we stand for!" she seethed as she advanced on Credence who backed away until his spine collided with the wall.

"It's not his! It was mine!" Solara called out and Mary Lou's head whipped round to look at Solara who gulped but stood her ground.

"Credence should have known better!" she snapped at the little girl before making a sinister promise "I will deal with you later Faith!"

Faith.

That was what Mary Lou had told Solara her name was now when she had adopted her.

 _"Solara" she had scoffed "Nasty, ungodly name. No, now you are called Faith."_

She had said to the little girl. Only Credence called her by her real name, Solara, and only when they were out of earshot of Mary Lou.

Now, Mary Lou looked back at Credence, who was trembling slightly.

"Take it off and give it to me. Now."

Solara closed her eyes.

She knew Mary Lou wouldn't let her leave. She almost always made Solara stay when she beat Credence, as a way of inspiring fear in her youngest adoptee.

So she closed her eyes and tried to ignore the sound of Credence's belt unbuckling before he handed to the woman who called herself their mother.

When the first strike sounded something in the small, skinny little girl overwhelmed her fear of her 'mother'.

"Leave him alone!" she shouted running forwards and standing between Mary Lou and Credence, who was now crouched, cowering on the floor, his head in his hands.

"Leave him alone." She said again a little quieter, staring defiantly up at Mary Lou.

"Move out of the way Faith. NOW!" Mary Lou said shrilly, but Solara just shook her head. So Mary Lou, grabbed her by her upper arms (the metal of Credence belt buckle digging into her skin) shook her violently before throwing her to the floor to the right.

What happened next seemed to happen in slow motion for little Solara.

Mary Lou raised the belt high, aiming to bring it crashing down on Credence.

Credence bowed his head, seeming to accept his fate.

Solara picked herself up from the ground and yelled

"I SAID LEAVE HIM ALONE!"

And suddenly a pulse of… something…emanated from Solara making the ground shake, the glass in the windows rattle and sending Mary Lou flying off her feet.

And then just as quickly as it had started…

It ended.

Everything was still aside from Credence slowly getting to his feet, nursing his hands and Solara taking several deep breaths.

She blinked. Looking at the crumpled, unconscious form of Mary Lou and started to tremble.

What had just happened?

Had she just-

She didn't have time to think much more because, as Mary Lou let out a low moan and began to stir, Credence grabbed her winter coat in one arm and Solara's shaking left hand with his free one and began to pull her towards the stairs.

As he pulled her along Credence stammered

"C-c'mon. C'm-c'mon. Be-be-before she wakes up. You-you need t' run."

"Credence I'm scared! I-I don't know what happened!" but Credence didn't speak just continued to pull her forwards, pausing only to snatch a fistful of money from the church donation tin.

They had reached the back door of the church and Credence crouched down in front of the frightened and confused little girl.

"Y-you need to go. You cant stay here now. Go home, a-and find your mom. Take this." he put the money he had stolen from the donation tin into Solara's pocket. "Now go!"

He pushed her towards the door but Solara wouldn't let go of his hand.

"Come with me Creed! I don't wanna go by myself! Please come with me!"

The seventeen year old boy looked pained and ashamed as he ducked his head and said quietly

"I cant Lara. I-I-I just cant. You'll be okay. Find your Ma." he finished guiding her towards the door once again.

Solara had walked to the door and had her hand on the rough hewn wood. But then she turned, ran back to Credence, jumped and through her arms round his neck. She hugged herself to the older boy, arms locked round his neck, legs wrapped around his middle. It took less than a second for Credence to return the embrace.

"Go Lara."

"Love you Creed."

"I love you too. Now go." he said setting her back on the floor.

With one last look back at Credence, Solara hurried out the door.

Out into the cold New York City streets.

* * *

 **So I've always wanted to write a fantastic beasts story but I've always been to intimidated to do it but im gonn give it a go!**

 **JK Rowling is and will always be my hero so I in no way want to ruin her work so please don't judge my crap to harshly in comparison to her genius.**

 **Credence is a precious cinnamon roll.**

 **Let me know what you think, what you like, what you want to see happen. I love hearing from people.**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


	2. Not her, not him, not Credence

**December 7th 1926 - New York - Church of the Second Salemers - Eight years later**

Credence checked to make sure that Modesty was preoccupied downstairs before ducking under the youngest Barebone adoptee's bed. He scrabbled around searching through the various bits of junk on the dusty floor. And then he froze as his left hand and eyes found something he had not seen in eight years and never thought he'd see again.

"Whatchoo doin' Credence?"

Credence moved so fast to get out from under the bed that he banged his head on the way, emerging to face little Modesty.

The wand he thought he'd never see again, clutched in his hands.

"Where'd you get this?"

"Give it back Credence. It's just a toy!" Modesty protested in a frightened and guilty voice.

 _"I-it's just a toy Creed! Really, just-just a toy I promise!"_

Suddenly as the overwhelmingly awful sense of déjà vu increased as the door banged open and Mary Lou entered the room. She looked with a furious fire in her eyes from Modesty, to Credence, to the wand in the young man's hand.

"What is this?"

* * *

Downstairs, Chastity Barebone, the middle child, looked up from where she was organising leaflets when she heard her mother say

"Take it off!"

She knew what that meant.

Credence had broken the rules again and was going to be punished.

* * *

As Credence began to remove his belt and Modesty looked anywhere but at her brother, Mary Lou held the wand up and with a twitch of anger on her face, snapped the toy clean in two. The crack of the wood made Modesty jump and Credence flinch as he fumbled with his belt buckle, before removing the garment and handing it to his mother.

"Ma..."

"I am not your Ma!" Mary Lou snapped "Your mother was a wicked, unnatural woman!"

Suddenly Modesty seemed to find both her voice and her courage as she stepped in between her mother and brother

"It was mine" she said bravely and Mary Lou looked down at the little girl with something like a mix of betrayal and disbelief on her face.

"Modesty-" she began but stopped as suddenly the belt she had been holding whipped out of her hand, leaving behind the same welts on her palm that she had so often inflicted on Credence.

"What is this?" she almost whispered looking from Modesty to Credence who had dropped to the floor and was hugging his knees and shaking.

Mary Lou took several deliberate steps forward and made to pick up the belt, but once again it whipped out of her reach.

Mary Lou, straightened, scowled and as she turned to confront her children...

All hell broke loose within the Second Salem Church.

* * *

It was late.

Very late.

Pitch dark by the time she arrived on Bleakers Street.

But she had to see. Had to see if what she had heard was true.

She knew it was when she arrived outside the Second Salemer's Church.

Or what was left of it.

She shivered as she looked at the ruined building, partly from the cold, partly from imagining what had happened here and partly out of fear. She was still afraid, even though the man who had forbidden her from ever returning here was far, far away.

"Creed" she whispered into the night "Where are you?"

The sound of distant sirens was her only answer.

* * *

 **December 9th 1926 - Hell's Kitchen**

NEW YORK TERROR OVER - AURORS PRAISED FOR BRAVERY

 _"Bravery! What a joke!"_ was her angrily sad thought.

She threw the copy of The Wizard's Voice paper back into the trash can that she had retrieved it from, after a snooty looking witch with a fur coat had tossed it inside.

Credence was not a terror.

Credence was the boy who had held her as she cried after her mother had given her to Mary Lou.

He was the boy who had sat at her bedside for a week when she came down with a fever.

He was the boy who had stolen her a copy of Grimms fairy tales for her tenth birthday and hidden it from Mary Lou for her.

He was the boy who had been beaten almost daily and eventually broken by the only mother he had ever known.

The aurors weren't brave. They didn't have to kill him. But they did it anyway.

She couldn't be here anymore. Not in New York, not in America, just not - here.

There was nothing to keep her here anymore. Not her ma, her real ma or Mary Lou. Not him.

And not Credence.

* * *

 **Ta da!**

 **Okay look; I know it's really short but I needed this as basically a filler chapter to get back to the main plot. I know I suck I'm sorry! Please don't hate me!**

 **I promise there will be more soon, with much longer chapters!**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


	3. Those eyes

**Edinburgh - Scotland - 1927**

In the back room of a less than reputable establishment a girl listened to hushed voices

 _"Yes it's true..."_

 _"The boy..."_

 _"Barebone..."_

 _"Survived somehow..."_

 _"New York..."_

 _"The obscurial…"_

 _"Paris I heard..."_

.

.

.

"Credence."

* * *

 **18 Rue Philippe Lorand - Paris - 1927**

Credence was afraid. He could tell Nagini was also, as she was clinging to his arm. The unseen woman in the room before them exchanged a few words in French with the Maledictus before Credence found his voice and took a few steps forwards, away from his friend.

"Are you Irma? Are you...? Are you Irma Dugard?"

There was no response and Credence ducked his head, unsure of what to say.

"I'm sorry. Your name is on my adoption paper. Does this make sense? You gave me to Mrs Barebone in New York?"

He walked forwards and pushed aside the curtain to find himself looking at a woman, face and hands wrinkled by age and laughter and wisdom. She only came up to his waist and Nagini could see and smell that the woman clearly had elf blood in her. The woman looked up into Credence's face and said with a sad half smile

"I am not your mother. I was only a servant."

Now the half smile turned into one of genuine joy as Credence crouched to her level and she caressed his cheek with her wizened hand.

"You were such a beautiful baby. And you are a beautiful man. I have missed you."

Unbeknownst to the half elf, the Maledictus or the Obscurial, they were all being watched from the shadows by Grimmson.

Grimmson, the Ministry man sent after Credence but who had quite a different mission in mind with a loyalty that was not to the Ministry of Magic.

"Why didn't they want me? Why is your name on my adoption paper?"

"I took you to Mrs Barebone because she was supposed to look after you."

But Credence never learnt anymore...

Because Grimmson chose that moment to attack and all hell broke loose!

Nagini was hexed into the wall, becoming trapped behind the bricks, half in snake form as Grimmson charged forwards shouting

"Avada Kedavra!"

The jet of greenlight went through the curtain and there was the unmistakable sound of a body hitting the floor. As Nagini hissed and thrashed, fighting to free herself, Grimmson marched forwards with his wand still raised. Pushing back the fabric he let a small smile of satisfaction creep onto his face at the sight of the half elf woman, Irma Dugard lying on the floor, eyes shut forever in death.

But where was Credence?

Grimmson slowly lifted his gaze to look at the ceiling.

There he was.

Or at least in one form.

Above him the obscurus was swirling, coiling, twisting and undulating, it's black form undercut with red and orange ember like tinges. Grimmson smiled nastily and waved his wand, casting a protective bubble around himself and the dead woman at his feet. The obscurus threw itself against the shield again and again, pressing in and trying to shatter the enchantment but to know avail. Finally Grimmson seemed to grow bored of this and disapperated.

Nagini finally managed to free herself from the wall and stumbled towards the partially destroyed room, unsteady on her newly recovered human legs and shaking her head to get the blackness out of her eyes as they adjusted out of their snake form. She slowed as she pushed aside the curtain, to reveal the carnage that Credence had inflicted in his obscurial form and the young man himself standing, trembling slightly and clearly supressing tears as he looked down at the dead Irma.

The woman who had been his last living connection to any chance at finding who he was.

But more importantly, the woman who had shown him more motherly kindness in two minutes than the woman who had raised him for more than twenty years in New York.

Credence felt himself tense for a moment, as Nagini slipped her hand into the crook of his elbow and slid it down his forearm until she interlaced her fingers with his.

"We should go Credence" she all but whispered "The muggles will be coming soon. We shouldn't be found here."

And Credence allowed her to gently pull him away, still looking at the little old dead woman on the floor until she disappeared from view.

* * *

They were hurrying through the streets of Paris, keeping their heads down.

They had just turned another corner into another street when Credence felt Nagini stiffen, her muscles taunt and strained.

"What is it?"

"We're being followed" she murmured as they continued to walk at a brisk pace, but not so fast as to draw suspicion on themselves.

"Where?"

"30 yards behind. I cant see who it is, they're wearing a hood. What do we do Credence?"

"Follow me."

They kept walking, both fighting not to turn and give away that they knew they were being followed.

* * *

She was right behind them when suddenly Credence and the young woman he was with turned a corner and disappeared from view. She almost ran to reach the spot where they had vanished from sight, and found herself looking down a dark alley, with rubbish and a few wooden pallets leant against the wall. She hurried down the dank and dark alleyway, towards where she could see a small square courtyard area created by the back entrances to several buildings.

She came to the end of the alley and made to turn at some speed into the tiny square area.

But as she turned round past the left alley wall, something hit her hard across the top of her chest, knocking her to the floor.

She didn't have time to register the pain of the strike, before a hand was around her throat and she was lifted and slammed backwards into the rough brick wall.

"Why are you following us?! Who sent you?!"

"Credence! Creed please!"

Credence froze. He let go of the follower, who stayed where she was but slowly pulled down her hood, looking up at him with a familiar pair of warm amber eyes. She was taller, but still smaller than him and her hair was darker and longer and she was certainly not the little girl he had watched run away from the Second Salem Church in New York anymore...

But those eyes.

"Don't you remember me Creed?"

"Of course I remember you Lara."

And with that Solara threw her arms around his neck and her legs around his waist just as she had done the last time they had seen each other.

And Credence didn't hesitate for a second before returning the embrace.

* * *

 **Ta da!**

 **Chapter three done! I hope this is okay, I must have rewritten their reunion five times trying to get it as right as I could.**

 **Please let me know what you think, I want to make this story good for you guys and I love hearing your ideas and what you like!**

 **More soon.**

 **Geronimo xx**


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